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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jun-2010
3-Jun-10 News -- S. Korea's ruling party suffers big losses

Web Log - June, 2010

3-Jun-10 News -- S. Korea's ruling party suffers big losses

Record numbers of candidates are running in midterm elections this year

South Korea's ruling party loses big in regional elections

It had been thought that Korean President Lee Myung-bak would benefit in Wednesday's regional elections, because of his firm response to the North Koreans after the sinking of the warship Cheonan, but it appears that the opposite has happened.

It now appears that Lee's Grand National Party (GNP) has unexpectedly lost many local elections to their political opposition, the Democratic party (DP), according to Yonhap. About 4,000 posts, including those of provincial governors, mayors, councilors and education chiefs were up for grabs, and the DP took many of these posts away from the GNP.

I would conclude from these results that the number of young people voting was much higher than expected. According to a recent Chosun article, 60% of all Koreans approve of sanctions against North Korea, but a smaller percentage of young people approved than the percentage of older people.

This could be seen at a May 26 rally in Seoul of thousands of people demonstrating against North Korea and demanding revenge, according to VOA. However, it was clear at the time of the rally that most of the demonstrators were elderly survivors of the 1950s Korean war.

Young people, on the other hand, apparently want to allow North Korea to escape any punishment at all. Professor B. R. Meyers of Dongseo University in South Korea described this in a recent NY Times article.

According to Meyers, "[A] lack of indignation is mainstream here. Most people now accept North Korea’s responsibility for the sinking that killed Mr. Mun and 45 other sailors. A small but sizable minority suspect an elaborate government conspiracy of some sort. What almost all seem to share is the desire that South Korea put this unfortunate business behind it as soon as possible."

This generational difference is similar to the kinds of generational differences we see in other countries. As I've written in the past, today's young Millennial generation in America knows almost nothing about what's going on in the world, and many of them couldn't find China on a map if they had to.

My guess is that this explains the surprise victory of the opposition party in Wednesday's elections.

The government of President Lee must itself be very well aware of the indifference of young people. That's one possibly reason why Lee has dropped the plan to conduct "propaganda activities" against the North, and Reuters now reports that Lee is delaying the planned request to the United Nations Security Council to censure North Korea for the Cheonan sinking.

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More than 2,300 people are running for 471 House and Senate seats in the midterm elections in the fall, reflecting the widespread anti-incumbent and anti-Washington anger across the country. This is the highest number of candidates since at least 1975. Associated Press

The number of business startups in 2009 reached their highest level in 14 years. This is consistent with what happened in the 1930s. While the employment index was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, in 2009, 558,000 new businesses were created each month. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Women's dresses are getting longer, which means the stock market will fall, according to the "Hemline Index" first developed by George Taylor in 1926. According to the theory, the stock market rises and falls with women's hemlines. Ritholtz

The Department of Homeland Security held a conference last Thursday asking the private sector, especially retail establishments, to heighten their level of awareness and report anything suspicious to law enforcement immediately. The number and pace of attempted attacks against the United States over the past nine months have surpassed the number of attempts during any other previous one-year period. National Retail Foundation

France is pulling its defense personnel out of Taiwan, cutting off all direct military contracts between the two countries. It's thought by some that this is being done at China's request, and that Beijing will reward Paris with a big aviation deal at the Paris Air Show in June, 2011. Asia Sentinel

Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users were hit by a "clickjacking scam" over the past few days, tricking users to post advertising messages to their pages. Facebook users should review their pages and delete those with malicious links. Cnet

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 3-Jun-10 News -- S. Korea's ruling party suffers big losses thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (3-Jun-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jun-2010 3-Jun-10 News -- S. Korea's ruling party suffers big losses

South Korea's ruling party loses big in regional elections

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jun-2010
3-Jun-10 News -- S. Korea's ruling party suffers big losses